1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to hinge mechanisms and more particularly to a hinge mechanism for a vehicle door having a four-member construction.
2. Discussion
Conventional door hinge mechanisms permit a vehicle door to be moved between a closed position wherein the vehicle door substantially closes a door aperture, and an open position wherein the vehicle door is skewed to a lateral side of the vehicle. Generally, conventional door hinge mechanisms pivot the vehicle door as the vehicle door is being moved toward the open position such that the forward edge of the vehicle door is located within the door aperture. Accordingly, hinge mechanisms constructed in this manner are known to have two drawbacks.
The first drawback is related to the arc or path of the vehicle door as it is placed into the open position. As conventional door hinge mechanisms pivot the vehicle door in a backward and inboard motion (i.e., the front edge of the vehicle door moves rearward and into the door aperture), vehicle designers were limited in the design of the front edge of the vehicle door due to the possibility of interference with the lateral side of the vehicle body when the vehicle door was moved between the closed and open positions.
A second drawback with the hinge mechanisms that utilize a backward and inboard motion when the vehicle door is opened is that such designs tend to orient the vehicle door relative to the door aperture in a manner which inhibits the ingress and egress of the vehicle. More specifically, the placement of the forward edge of the vehicle door in the door aperture limits the space available for ingress and egress. This drawback is particularly noticeable with vehicles that have relatively small doors, such as those generally found on sports cars.
One hinge developed to overcome these problems is disclosed in commonly assigned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/612,892 entitled xe2x80x9cFour Member Door Hingexe2x80x9d, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. This hinge mechanism, however, is susceptible to the force that is exerted by the compression of a weatherstrip seal between the vehicle body and the door when the vehicle door is positioned in the closed position; the force exerted by the weatherstrip seal is not resisted by the hinge members, causing the hinge to open. As this force is highly variable, extensive shimming is necessary to fit the hinge to a particular application. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a hinge mechanism that overcomes these problems.
In one preferred form, the present invention provides a hinge mechanism for mounting a vehicle door structure to a vehicle body. The hinge mechanism includes first, second, third and fourth hinge members and a plurality of pin members. The first hinge member is fixedly but removably coupled to the vehicle body and the fourth hinge member is fixedly but removably coupled to the vehicle door. The pin members pivotably couple the second and third hinge members to the first and fourth hinge members, permitting the hinge mechanism to pivotably couple the vehicle door structure to the vehicle body such that the vehicle door structure is movable between a closed position substantially closing the door aperture and an open position substantially clearing the door aperture. The second and third hinge members are configured to resist a seal force that is exerted to the vehicle door by a weatherstrip seal to thereby inhibit the seal force from skewing an outer surface of the vehicle door relative to an outer surface of the vehicle body.